Lead removal at Block site may hit $1M

Tuesday, July 08, 2008
By PAUL KOEPP
JOURNAL STAFF WRITER

The Jersey City building that will house the county's new welfare offices may need a costly lead paint cleanup, just two weeks after officials gave it a clean bill of health.

A "limited inspection" in June 2006 found elevated lead levels on door moldings, stairways and columns at the former Block Drug site on Cornelison Avenue, and a June 2007 study of a rooftop paint sample by environmental consultant PMK Group found lead well over the allowed limit, reports show.

The cleanup could cost up to $1 million, one official said.

"The reports speak for themselves," said Roger Quintana, president of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) Local 2306, which represents 600 county welfare workers.

Quintana said he has filed complaints with the Environmental Protection Agency and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.

Jose Munoz, chair of the county freeholders' welfare committee, said he paid a "surprise visit" to the building last week and saw paint peeling in several places, most notably in the seventh-floor cafeteria.

That prompted him to ask Hudson County Administrator Abe Antun to have paint scraped in about 15 percent of the building, and Antun agreed.

"I had an issue with that because people will be eating in there," Munoz said.

But, according to county spokesman Jim Kennelly, there's still no reason for county employees to worry about their new workplace.

The lead found in 2006 is not in the form of chips or flakes that could be ingested, he said.

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Huh? Ain't gonna happen. It was a 70 year old factory. For one, the floor is six inches out of level within six feet in some places. Trying to deal with 70 years of wiring issues? Forgetaboutit. I feel for the General Contractor. Non-stop issues to solve. It'll look good when it's done but it was a real pig to start with.

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What happened was the original sprinky system was so plugged up they went ahead dumped the son bitch and let it drain through the entire building. (It's a jersey City thing.)

Health concerns at new county building
Union officials question readiness of County Plaza

By Al Sullivan
Hudson Reporter
07/01/2008

Just when the Hudson County Freeholders thought they'd solved their problems about aging buildings, union representatives say that moving into the new County Plaza building in Jersey City may have its own woes.

In early June, several freeholders reviewed conditions at the welfare offices in the Journal Square area, noting safety and health problems at the sites.

While the Hudson County administration took action to solve some of these problems, freeholders said the best solution was to move up the date when the welfare offices would be relocated to a newly renovated former Block Drug site near Montgomery Street.

But Roger Quintana, president of the AFSCME Local 2306, said he has health concerns about the new facility, citing allegedly peeling paint and the possibility of mold.

"I saw a tremendous amount of flaking and peeling paint and what appeared to be mold on the ceiling throughout the facility," he said. "When I asked the construction official, we were told that the ceiling was not going to be cleaned, but rather, a drop ceiling [would be] installed under the peeling and flaking paint. I was told that the black spots, which appeared to be mold, were not [mold]. I requested that it be checked."

County Administrator Abe Antun said the county has already conducted environmental investigations, including testing for asbestos and lead paint, as well as the completion of air samplings.

Antun said he has requested a copy of the reports and will give them to Quintena to assure him of the building's safety.

"Regarding the black spots that Mr. Quintana believes to be mold, I was told that the black spots are the residue from removing the old piping of the sprinkler system," Antun said. "The contractor is responsible for removing all the black spots on the walls and ceilings."

The flaking paint, however, will remain in some areas.

"Since the testing of the paint did not reveal lead, it was the recommendation of the project team to leave the flaking paint on the ceiling since it will be covered by the drop ceilings," Antun said.

Meanwhile, concerns were once more raised about the existing welfare offices. While the county took action to cleanup problems raised last month, a triggered fire alarm raised concerns amongst some employees because the system apparently is not connected to the Jersey City Fire Department.

Antun, in a report to a request from the freeholders, said workers are safe.

"I have been able to learn that the fire alarm system is not tied into the Jersey City Fire Department, but is provided by a vendor named Supreme Security System," he said. "If the alarm goes off, it sends a signal to Supreme Security and they relay that signal to the Jersey City Fire Department. This was the system the previous owner had in place when we took over the building."

Antun said the vendor will be reviewing the system to correct the problem.

"The sheriff will provide an hourly patrol when the building is not occupied," he said. "During the day, the sheriff provides security in the building."

Where are most county offices located now? The Admin building on Newark Ave. correct?

What happens to that space when they move into the HC PLAZA. How about the Freeholders' offices, are they going in the Plaza as well?

Thanks in advance!

Overall, sounds like a good idea putting the Sheriff's office and the clinic all in there with other buildings. We're approaching late 2008, I wonder how it's coming out.

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Been working on that building for 9 months and I can assure you that by late 2008 it will still be my home.

Health risks at new county offices?
Brass: Memo shows all's well at Block

Saturday, June 21, 2008
By KEN THORBOURNE
JOURNAL STAFF WRITER

Nervous about peeling paint and dark splotches on walls that look like mold, a union boss for county workers fired off a request to a state agency this week to inspect the soon-to-be-occupied "County Plaza" building on Cornelison Avenue in Jersey City, the former Block Drug site.

"I saw a tremendous amount of flaking and peeling paint and what appeared to be mold on the ceiling throughout the facility," Roger Quintana, president of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) Local 2306, wrote in his complaint to the Public Employees Occupational Safety and Health Administration.

Earlier this month, Quintana, who represents 600 county welfare workers, took a tour of the building, which is being converted into a headquarters for county offices. The first of more than 1,000 workers are to move into the facility in the next few months, officials said.

County officials say Quintana and his workers have nothing to fret about and furnished a June 10 memo to county officials from Richard Puleo - an official with Imperial Construction Group of Elizabeth, manager of the $40 million project - as back-up.

The existing interior paint has been tested for lead, which poses a danger to people, and it doesn't have any, Puleo wrote.

"As you know, we did encounter mold in the area of the chest clinic," Puleo added. "All materials were removed and replaced with new material via a change order issued to the contractor."

Also, "'black spots' seen during the tour are not mold but rather sediment that was in the old sprinkler piping which was removed throughout the building and completely replaced," Puleo stated.

Asbestos was removed from various areas of the building, he said.

Officials from the Public Employees Occupational Safety and Health Administration said Quintana's complaint would be classified in terms of urgency and addressed.

The 340,000-square-foot building cost the county $14 million to buy and should be fully occupied by the end of next year, said county spokesman Jim Kennelly.

Call it 'Hudson County Plaza' --Former Block Drug to be workplace for 1,100 county employees

Ricardo Kaulessar- Hudson Reporter --10/28/2006

It will cost $50 million and takes two years of work, but by late 2008, the old Block Drug headquarters on Cornelison Avenue in Jersey City will become Hudson County Plaza, the new home to 1,100 county employees.

The nearly 80-year-old building was once the national headquarters for Block Drug, which developed, manufactured and marketed pharmaceutical and household products such as Sensodyne Toothpaste, 1000 Flushes, and Gold Bond Powder.

Block Drug was sold to the British-based GlaxoSmithKline in 2001. Hudson County purchased the Block Drug building from GlaxoSmithKline in 2004 for approximately $15 million.

County officials gave a media tour of the building on Oct. 17, and presented completed design plans.

The 292,000 of 340,000 square foot building will house 14 county departments including the Hudson County Sheriff's Department and the Department of Health and Human Services.

Also, there will be a new, county-operated chest clinic to replace the old county facility located at Murdoch Hall in the former Jersey City Medical Center.

Staff from the old clinic is slated to occupy the new building first, since their current lease at their old location is expected to expire by the end of the year.

They will be followed by the Sheriff's Office, then other departments.

Changes to the building include new entrances, two new elevators, new lighting fixtures, and a new air conditioning system for the clinic.

Assistant County Administrator David Drumeler said the first phase of the project will be asbestos removal from inside the building's walls starting by the end of the November.

In early January, bids will go out for the rest of the construction.

The estimated cost of the upgrades and changes will be approximately $36 million.

The center of county operations

Drumeler said before the tour that relocating most county services under one roof will be helpful in the long run.

"While we will spend more upfront to bring Hudson County Plaza online, there is no doubt that the long-term benefit, both financially and from a service perspective, will be worth it," said Drumeler.

He said that the county has been leasing spaces for county departments in a building on Newkirk Avenue and in other parts of Hudson County, which was becoming a money waster.

County spokesperson Jim Kennelly pointed out that there will be a good deal of work that was at first not anticipated, since the county was unaware there was more space than expected.

"We initially thought we would do what is called a dust-off. That is, we would go in and used what space was available," Kennelly said, "but what we found was there were about 100,000 square feet of labs and other space. So let's go forward and use every available space."

Drumeler noted that GlaxoSmithKline did about $5 million in improvements when they occupied the building.

The tour made its way from the first floor, where the chest clinic will be located, to the seventh floor, where employees from the county's Department of Health and Human Services (expected to occupy 65 percent of the building) will be placed.

Other floors will hold the County Clerk, Superintendent of Elections, the Board of Elections, and the Sheriff's Department, which will be responsible for the 24-hour security for the building.

From Block Drug to Hudson County Plaza

The Block Drug property is a total of 16 acres. The Block Drug building is seven stories high, sitting on little over 13 acres of land that also includes 600 parking spaces. A second nearby parcel is nearly 3 acres.

According to Joe Baker, member of a small crew of ex-Block Drug employees who have been maintaining the building since it closed, said the building has existed on the site since 1928. Block Drug moved into the building in the 1950s after it moved from a building on Baldwin Avenue.

The county retained several employees from Block Drug to take care of the interior and exterior of the building. There is a front gate leading from Cornelison Avenue and a back entrance on Academy Street.

Transformation from Block Drug to the new Hudson County Plaza will feature upgraded grounds, including a small public park, widened sidewalks, and new bus stops and new landscaping.

"One of the things the county executive [Tom DeGise] talked about was we wanted to support the neighborhood," said Kennelly. "We want to make this more inviting. You'll have 1,100 employees working here, and people coming in and out."

Ricardo Kaulessar can be reached at rkaulessar@hudsonreporter.com